Images of Old Hawaiʻi

by Peter T Young 4 Comments

Surfer Girl

“Surf-riding was one of the most exciting and noble sports known to the Hawaiians, practiced equally by king, chief and commoner. It is still to some extent engaged in, though not as formerly, when it was not uncommon for a whole community, including both sexes, and all ages, to sport and frolic in the ocean the livelong day.” (Malo)

By 1779, riding waves lying down or standing on long, hardwood surfboards was an integral part of Hawaiian culture. Surfboard riding was as layered into the society, religion and myth of the islands as baseball is to the modern United States.

Even the missionaries surfed.

Amos Cooke, who arrived in Hawaiʻi in 1837 – and was later appointed by King Kamehameha III to teach the young royalty in the Chief’s Childrens’ School – surfed himself (with his sons) and enjoyed going to the beach in the afternoon. “After dinner Auhea went with me, & the boys to bathe in the sea, & I tried riding on the surf. To day I have felt quite lame from it.” (Cooke)

Mark Twain sailed to the Hawaiian Islands and tried surfing, describing his 1866 experience in his book Roughing It. “I tried surf-bathing once, subsequently, but made a failure of it. I got the board placed right, and at the right moment, too; but missed the connection myself.”

“The board struck the shore in three quarters of a second, without any cargo, and I struck the bottom about the same time, with a couple of barrels of water in me.”

Missionary Hiram Bingham, noted of surfing (rather poetically,) “On a calm and bright summer’s day, the wide ocean and foaming surf … the green tufts of elegant fronds on the tall cocoanut trunks, nodding and waving, like graceful plumes, in the refreshing breeze …”

“… the natives … riding more rapidly and proudly on their surf-boards, on the front of foaming surges … give life and interest to the scenery.”

Although everyone, including women and children, surfed, it was the chiefs who dominated the sport. One of the best among Waikīkī’s chiefs was Kalamakua; he came from a long ancestry of champion surfers whose knowledge, skill and mana were handed down and passed on from generation to generation. (DLNR)

A notable wahine (woman) surfer was Kelea, sister of Kawao, King of Maui (about AD 1445) – “No sport was to her so enticing as a battle with the waves.” (Kalākaua)

She loved the water possibly because she could see her fair face mirrored in it – and became the most graceful and daring surf-swimmer in the kingdom. Kelea later married Kalamakua. (Kalākaua) But this story is not about Kelea.

This story is about another surfer girl.

Reportedly, Mrs James Cromwell became the first woman to take up competition surfing under the guidance of surfing champion and Olympic swimmer Duke Kahanamoku and his brothers.

Cromwell won “First Place” in a surfboard regatta staged at Waikīkī Beach (January 22, 1939.) She and beach boy Sam Kahanamoku won the tandem, open “malihini girls and beach boys” quarter-mile sprint. (Honolulu Advertiser, January 23, 1939)

She and Sam were a familiar team in Waikīkī, where they won tandem surfing and paddling competitions. A bronze medalist in the 100-meter free-style swim at the 1924 Olympics, Sam was also an avid surfer, paddler, musician and a great wit. (Their friendship continued until his death in 1966.)

By 1941, Cromwell had 13-boards in the household inventory. Each of the boards had a name or initials, including one named Lahilahi (thin or dainty,) an affectionate nickname given to her by the Kahanamokus.

All was not fun and games. Showing her husband her surfing skill while in Honolulu, Mrs Cromwell, in 1935, had a slight scalp wound as a result of being thrown from her 60-pound surfboard. An emergency hospital record showed she was treated and released. (St Petersburg Times, November 3, 1935)

She later had a more modern board, created by Dale Velzy, who is considered one of the men responsible for the rise of the California surfer culture in the years following World War II. Some suggest Velzy opened the first conventional surf shop at Manhattan Beach in California in 1949.

Her board is one of the first boards Velzy created using the new polyurethane foam material; boards were previously made of balsa wood.

Oh, by the way … Mrs Cromwell was more generally known as “the richest girl in the world,” Doris Duke.

Doris Duke, the only child of James Buchanan Duke, was born on November 22, 1912. Her father was a founder of the American Tobacco Company and the Duke Power Company, as well as a benefactor of Duke University. When Mr Duke died in 1925, he left his 12-year old daughter an estate estimated at $80-million.

In the late-1930s, Doris Duke built her Honolulu home, Shangri La, on 5-acres overlooking the Pacific Ocean and Diamond Head. Shangri La incorporates architectural features from the Islamic world and houses Duke’s extensive collection of Islamic art, which she assembled for nearly 60-years.

Her surfing legacy lives on.

Rough Point has been the ‘home’ of the Doris Duke Surf Fest. It’s not really a surf contest; it’s more of a display of vintage surfboards on the grounds of Rough Point, one of Duke’s other homes (in Newport, Rhode Island, not far from the International Tennis Hall of Fame.)

Designed in the English manorial style, Rough Point was originally built for Frederick W Vanderbilt, sixth son of William H Vanderbilt. When it was commissioned in 1887, Rough Point was the largest house that the Newport summer colony had yet seen, replacing two wood-frame houses at the extreme southeast end of Bellevue Avenue.

Duke’s father bought it in 1922. On her death, she bequeathed the estate to the Newport Restoration Foundation with the directive that it be opened to the public as a museum (it opened for tours in 2000.) (Lots of information here from Shangri La Hawaiʻi and Newport Restoration Foundation.)

 

by Peter T Young 1 Comment

Marianne Cope

“I am hungry for the work. … I am not afraid of any disease, hence it would be my greatest delight even to minister the abandoned ‘lepers.’”

Farmers Peter and Barbara Koob had five children in Germany and five children in the United States.  On January 23, 1838, their daughter, Barbara Koob (variants: Kob, Kopp and now officially Cope,) was born in the German Grand Duchy of Hess-Darmstadt.   The next year, the family immigrated to the United States to seek opportunity.

The Koob family settled in Utica, New York and became members of St. Joseph Parish, where the children attended the parish school.

In 1848, young Barbara received her First Holy Communion and was confirmed at St. John Parish in Utica when, in accordance with the practice of the time, the bishop of the diocese came to the largest church in the area to administer these two sacraments at the same ceremony.

After her father’s death, Barbara, in August, 1862, entered the Sisters of the Third Order of Saint Francis in Syracuse, NY, and, on November 19, 1862, she was invested at the Church of the Assumption. She soon became known as Sister Marianne.

As a member of the governing boards of her religious community, she participated in the establishment of two of the first hospitals in the central New York area, St. Elizabeth Hospital in Utica (1866) and St. Joseph’s Hospital in Syracuse (1869). These two hospitals were among the first 50 general hospitals in the US.

Sister Marianne began her new career as administrator at St. Joseph’s Hospital in Syracuse, NY in 1870 where she served as head administrator for six of the hospital’s first seven years.

In 1877, Sister Marianne was elected Mother General of the Franciscan congregation and given the title “Mother” as was the custom of the time.

In 1883, she received a letter from Father Leonor Fouesnel, a missionary in Hawaiʻi, to come to Hawaiʻi to help “procure the salvation of souls and to promote the glory of God.”

Of the 50 religious communities in the US contacted, only Mother Marianne’s Order of Sisters agreed to come to Hawaiʻi to care for people with Hansen’s Disease (known then as leprosy).

The Sisters arrived in Hawaiʻi on November 8, 1883, dedicating themselves to the care of the 200-lepers in Kakaʻako Branch Hospital on Oʻahu.  This hospital was built to accommodate 100-people, but housed more than 200.

The condition at the hospital were deplorable.  Each Sister-nurse learned to wash the wounds, to apply soothing ointment to the wounds, and to bring a sense of order to the lawlessness that prevails when there is abandonment of hope.

In 1884, Mother Marianne Cope and the Sisters of St. Francis came to Maui and with a royal bequest from Queen Kapiʻolani, established Malulani Hospital (“Protection of Heaven”) in Wailuku, next to the site of St. Anthony’s Church.  Malulani was the first hospital established on Maui.

In 1885, realizing that healthy children of leprous patients were at high risk of contracting the disease, yet had no place to live, she founded Kapiʻolani Home on Oʻahu for healthy female children of leprosy patients.  Because of her work, she was the recipient of the Royal Medal of Kapiʻolani.

In the summer of 1886, the Sisters took care of Father Damien (later Saint Damien) when he visited Honolulu during his bout with leprosy.  He asked the Sisters to take over for him when he died.

Mother Marianne led the first contingent of Sister-nurses to Kalaupapa, Molokaʻi, where more than a thousand people with leprosy had been exiled.  Upon arrival, on November 14, 1888, she opened the CR Bishop Home for homeless women and girls with Hansen’s Disease.  To improve the bleak conditions, Mother Marianne grew fruits, vegetables and landscaped the area with trees, thus creating a better environment among the residents.

While at Kalaupapa, Mother Marianne predicted that no Franciscan Sister would ever contract leprosy. Additionally she required her sisters use stringent hand washing and other sanitary procedures.

Upon the death of Saint Damien on April 15, 1889, Mother Marianne agreed to head the Boys Home at Kalawao.  The Board of Health had quickly chosen her as Saint Damien’s successor and she was thus enabled to keep her promise to him to look after his boys.

The Boys Home at Kalawao was completely renovated between 1889 – 1895 during her administration.  During the renovation, it was renamed Baldwin Home by the Board of Health in honor of its leading benefactor, HP Baldwin.

The two new Sisters who came to run the Home were accompanied on their boat journey by poet Robert Louis Stevenson, who stayed for a week.  During his stay, he wrote a poem for Mother Marianne and later donated a piano so that “there will always be music.”

Mother Marianne’s spirit of self-sacrifice enabled her to live and work with leper patients for 35 years.  Although there was not yet a cure, the Sisters could offer the lepers some semblance of dignity and as pleasant a life as possible.

Mother Marianne died in Kalaupapa on August 9, 1918.  The Sisters of St. Francis continue their work in Kalaupapa with victims of Hansen’s Disease.  No sister has ever contracted the disease.

On December 19, 2011, Pope Benedict signed and approved the promulgation of the decree for her sainthood and she was canonized on October 21, 2012.  (Information here is primarily from Cathedral of Our Lady of Peace.)

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by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Hawai‘i Island Cession to Britain

“Tamaahmaah was exceedingly well pleased, and thankful for our exertions; (Vancouver was building him a ship) and it was extremely gratifying to my feelings to reflect, that such valuable opportunities should have offered for bestowing this gratification upon the king, and many essential benefits upon his people …”

“… all of whom were now well convinced, that these superior advantages were only to be obtained by the constant exercise of the same honesty and civility by which these had been secured to them on the present occasion.”

“Very little doubt can be entertained of the exalted pleasure Tamaahmaah would enjoy in the attainment, by honorable means, of so desirable an object as his new schooner…”

“On the evening of Sunday the 23d, agreeably to my promise, I accompanied Tamaahmaah to the morai, and submitted to all the forms, regulations, and restriction of the taboo. … “

“I was not on this, as on the former occasion, purely an idle spectator; but was in some degree one of the actors. Whilst in the morning the principal ceremonies and prayers were performing, I was called upon to give my opinion on several matters that were agitated at one time by the king, and at others by the principal priests.”

“Amongst these was the propriety of their remaining at peace, or making war against the other islands? The session of the island; and if, by that voluntary measure, they would be considered as the of Great Britain?”

“Under this impression, in what manner ought they to conduct themselves towards all strangers, as well those who might visit them from civilized nations, as the inhabitants of the neighbouring islands?”

“With these, and some, other questions of less importance, I was very seriously interrogated; and I made such answers to each as was consistent with my own situation, and, as I considered, were most likely to tend in future to their happiness and tranquillity. …”

“In the forenoon of Tuesday the 25th, the king and queen accompanied by Terry-my-tee, the king’s brother; Crymamahow, half brother to the king, and chief of the district of Amakooa; Kahowmoto, chief of the district of Poona, Tamaahmotoo, chief of the district of Koarra, Trywhookee, half brother of the king, and the most faithful protector and purveyor at the encampment …”

“… all assembled on board the Discovery , for the purpose of formally ceding and surrendering the island of Owhyhee to me for his Britannic Majesty, his heirs and successors; there were present on this occasion besides myself, Mr Puget, and all the officers of the Discovery.”

“Tamaahmaahl opened the business in a speech, which he delivered with great moderation and equal firmness. He explained the reasons that had induced him to offer the island to the protection of Great Britain; and recounted the numerous advantages that himself, the chiefs, and the people, were likely to derive by the surrender they were about to make.”

“He enumerated the several nations that since Captain Cook’s discovery of these islands had occasionally resorted hither, each of which was too powerful for them to resist; and as these visitors had come more frequently to their shores, and their numbers seemed to increase …”

“… he considered that the inhabitants would be liable to more ill treatment, and still greater impositions than they had yet endured, unless they could be protected against such wrongs by some one of the civilized powers with whose people they had become acquainted …”

“… that at present they were completely independent, under no sort of engagement whatever, and were free to make choice of that state which in their opinion was most likely by its attention to their security and interests , to answer the purpose for which the proposed surrender was intended.”

“For his own part he did not hesitate to declare his preference he entertained for the king of Great Britain, to whom he was ready to acknowledge his submission; and demanded to know who had any objection to follow his example. This produced an harangue from each of the five3 chiefs, all of whom had some ideas to offer on this important subject.”

“The warlike spirit and ambitious views of Kahowmotoo had long taught him to indulge the flattering hope, that on fame future day he should be enabled to acquire the sovereignty of Mowee.”

“This prompted him to state in a spirited and manly speech, that on their becoming connected and attached to so powerful a nation, they ought no longer to suffer the indignities which had been offered to their island, Owhyhee, by the people of Mowee …”

“…he also candidly enumerated the offences that Mowee had justly to complain of in return; but as there bore no proportion to her aggressions, he contended that she ought to be chastised, and that when a force for their protection should be obtained from England, the first object of its employment ought to be the conquest of Mowee …”

“… after which the care of its government should be intrusted to some respectable chief, whose interest and inclination could be depended upon a being friendly towards Owhyhee.”

“Kavaheeroo, a chief of very different disposition, content with the station he filled, and the comforts he enjoyed with pleasure to the consequences that were likely to result from the adoption of the measure proposed …”

“… having no doubt of its tending to their future safety and protection, which had now become highly expedient in some way to effect, and of its being the means of producing a general pacification with their relations and friends, as he termed them, on the islands.”

“Tianna, after agreeing with Kahowmotoo, that Mowee ought to be chastised; and with Kavaheeroo, in the necessity of Owhyhee being protected; proposed that some persons, duly authorized for that purpose, should reside on shore by way of guards, and stated that a vessel or two would be requisite to defend them by sea.”

“He very judiciously observed further, that so great a similarity existed between the people of the four nations with whom they were already acquainted, but more particularly so between English and the Americans …”

“… that in the event of their present surrender being accepted, and of a vessel being sent out for their protection, they should be doubtful as to the reality of such persons coming from England …”

“… unless some of the officers then present, or some of those board the vessels with whom they were acquainted, and who they were convinced did belong to King George, should return to Owhyhee with the succours required.”

“This appeared to him a measure of [so much consequence that it could not be dispensed with, for otherwise, any of the distant nations, knowing they had ceded the island to the English government, might send to them ships and men whom they had never before seen …”

“… and who, by asserting they had come from England and belonged to King George, would deceive them into the obedience of a people against whom they should afterwards most probably revolt.”

“These were the prominent features in the several speeches made on the occasion: in every one of which their religion, government, and domestic economy was noticed …”

“… and it was clearly understood, that no interference was to take place in either; that Tamaahmaah, the chiefs and priests, were to continue as usual to officiate with the same authority as before in their respective stations, and that no alteration in those particulars was in any degree thought of or intended.”

“These preliminaries being fully discussed, and thoroughly understood on both sides, the king repeated his former proposition, which was now unanimously approved of, and the whole party declared their consent by saying …”

“… that they were no longer Tanata no Owhyhee, (i.e.) the people of Owhyhee; but Tanata no Britannee, (i.e.) the people of Britain. This was instantly made known to the surrounding crowd in their numerous canoes about the vessels, and the same expressions were cheerfully repeated throughout the attending multitude.”

“Mr. Puget, accompanied by some of the officers, immediately went on shore; there displayed the British colours, and took possession of the island in his Majesty’s name, in conformity to the inclination and desire of Tamaahmaah and his subjects.”

“On this ceremony being finished, a salute was fired from the vessels, after which the following inscription on copper was deposited in a very conspicuous place at the royal residence.”

“‘On the 25th of February, 1794, Tamaahmaah king of Owhyhee, in council with the principal chiefs of the island, assembled on board his Britannie Majesty’s sIoop Discovery in Karakakooa bay, and in the presence of George Vancouver, commander of the said sloop …’”

“‘… Lieutenant Peter Puget, commander of his said Majesty’s armed tender the Chatham; and the other officers of the Discovery; after due consideration, unanimously ceded the said island of Owhyhee to his Britannic Majesty, and acknowledged themselves to the subjects of Great Britain.’” (Vancouver Journal)

According to Kekūanāo’a, Boki stated that Kamehameha stated to Vancouver, “go back and tell King George to watch over me and my whole kingdom.”

“I acknowledge him as my landlord and myself as tenant, (or him as superior and I as inferior.) Should the foreigners of any other nation come to take possession of my lands, then let him help me.” (Kekūanāo‘a in Report of the Foreign Minister, 1855)

While Kamehameha and his chiefs became willing to acknowledge King George as their suzerain, in expectation of his defending them against foreign and outside foes, they expressly reserved to themselves the autonomous government of their island in their own way and according to such laws as they themselves might impose.”

“It is not evident that Vancouver did or could hold out to the Hawaii chiefs anything more than the probability of such protection, the cession, from even his point of view, requiring the acceptance and ratification of the English Government, which it never received. “

“That Kamehameha and his chiefs did not understand the full meaning of the word cession is plain from the reservations which they made.”

“As it was, the so-called cession of the island of Hawaii was no doubt entered into by Vancouver with the very best intentions for the protection and advancement of the Hawaiians …”

“… and by Kamehameha and his chiefs with undisguised expectations of receiving material aid in their wars with Kahehili and Kaeo, and of certain commercial advantages not very well defined.”

“The cession, however, was never accepted or ratified by the English Government, and no steps were taken by emigration or colonisation to make good use of the friendly disposition of the chiefs, and to secure by stronger ties the suzerainty thus loosely acquired.” (Fornander)

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by Peter T Young 2 Comments

Three Contemporary Leaders

While not the three amigos, these were three concurrent warriors and leaders of their respective parts of the planet – Kamehameha, Washington and Napoleon.

Each came into prominence through war and each left a mark in history in civil governance.

Kamehameha I (ca. 1758 – May 8, 1819)

Kamehameha was initially known as Paiʻea, which means “hard-shelled crab;” Kamehameha means “The Lonely One.”

Raised in the royal court of his uncle, Kalaniʻōpuʻu, Kamehameha achieved prominence in 1782, upon Kalaniʻōpuʻu’s death.

While the kingship was inherited by Kalaniʻōpuʻu’s son Kiwalaʻo, Kamehameha was given the prominent position of guardianship of the Hawaiian god of war, Kūkaʻilimoku.

In 1785, Kamehameha married Ka‘ahumanu, the daughter of one of his most trusted advisors. In 1790, he attained control of Hawai‘i Island, then he successfully invaded the Islands of Maui, Lāna‘i, Moloka‘i and O‘ahu, by 1795.

Ultimately, in 1810, Kauai‘i’s Kaumuali‘i decided to peacefully yield and unite with Kamehameha and join the rest of the Kingdom of Hawaiʻi.

Kamehameha instituted the Kānāwai Māmalahoe, the Law of the Splintered Paddle. The law, “Let every elderly person, woman and child lie by the roadside in safety,” is enshrined in the state constitution, Article 9, Section 10, and has become a model for modern human rights law regarding the treatment of civilians and other non-combatants.

George Washington (February 22, 1732 – December 14, 1799)

The first president of the United States, George Washington, serving from 1789 to 1797, is often referred to as the Father of Our Country.

He led the American victory over Great Britain in the American Revolutionary War as commander-in-chief of the Continental Army from 1775 to 1783.

After victory had been finalized in 1783, Washington resigned rather than seize power, proving his opposition to dictatorship and his commitment to the emerging American political ideology of republicanism. Washington was elected as the first president in 1789, and re-elected 1792.

Dissatisfied with the weaknesses of Articles of Confederation, in 1787, Washington presided over the Constitutional Convention that drafted the United States Constitution.

Napoleon Bonaparte (August 15, 1769 – May 5, 1821)

Napoleon was a French military and political leader during the latter stages of the French Revolution.

As Napoleon I, he was Emperor of the French from 1804 to 1815. He is remembered for his role in the wars led against France by a series of coalitions, the so-called Napoleonic Wars.

His legal reform, the Napoleonic Code (with enhanced civil rights, property rights and class privileges were extinguished,) has been a major influence on many civil law jurisdictions worldwide.

After a streak of victories, France secured a dominant position in continental Europe and Napoleon maintained the French sphere of influence through the formation of extensive alliances. Ultimately, in June 1815, Napoleon was defeated at Waterloo; he spent the last six years of his life in confinement by the British.

I find it interesting to see what these three notable leaders were doing at the same time in disparate and unconnected parts of the world.

I don’t know about you, but I am curious and fascinated in looking at similar timeframes and comparing histories of different parts of the world.

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by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Lord Mayor of London

“Ship traps” describes a phenomenon where northern and southern swells, strong channel currents, strong consistent trade winds and fringing reefs force unsuspecting vessels into areas of harm – resulting in concentrated shipwrecks.

The north shore of the Island of Lānaʻi, locally referred to as “Shipwreck Beach,” is the best example of this phenomenon. Here, the channel acts as a funnel, depositing material directly onto Shipwreck Beach.

Any vessel that broke its moorings at Lāhainā would end up there; sometimes ship owners intentionally abandoned worn-out vessels there by simply casting them adrift upwind from the treacherous shore. (Naval Historical Center)

The first reported wreck occurred in 1824 when a British vessel named the Alderman Wood ran into the reef there.  It was said to be carrying a “cargo of liquors” and “became a total wreck.” (PCA, Nov. 16. 1905)

Well, maybe the liquor was lost, but the ship’s figurehead was saved …

“At first glance the figure-head presents a ludicrous picture, for upon the head has been nailed an old derby hat, entirely out of joint and time with the figure-head, which wears carved clothing of the kind prevailing in the latter part of the eighteenth century.”

“From between the wooden lips of this odd statue, once the proud monument of a time British ship’s prow, projects a cheap corn-cob pipe, placed there by a waterfront wag.”

“But a closer view shows that the figure-head must possess a history.  No figure-head of this type has adorned a ship in the nineteenth century.”

“It belonged to century when the United States was young, when George Washington was the President, and the Hawaiian Islands little known, except that some years before Captain Cook had been slain on one of them.”

“The figurehead wears a long cape, caught over the breast with a buckle.  Around the neck is a chain, hanging from this against the breast is what appears to be a large medal, but which really was the symbol of one of the highest offices in England – that of Lord Mayor of London.”

“Some time in the 20’s the British ship Alderman Wood was wrecked on the island of [Lanai]. The news was brought to Honolulu and James Robinson, father of Mark P Robinson, then head of the firm of James Robinson & Co, ship chandlers and carpenters went to Molokai to save what he could of the ship.”

“She was filled with beautiful mirrors, and was in those days reckoned a magnificent type of the merchant ships built by the British. The captain made a present of the figure-head to Mr. Robinson and he brought it to Honolulu.”

“When the new warehouse was built in the beginning of the ‘30’s, below what is now Queen street, Mr Robinson raised the figure-head up and placed it on the pulley beam as a pedestal, and there it has remained through all the vicissitudes of the elements for nearly three quarters of a century.”

“Often a workman is sent up on the building with putty, nails and pieces of wood to repair the figure-head.”

“The ship Alderman Wood was named after its owner, who was a London alderman in the latter part of the eighteenth century and Mark Robinson is of the opinion that he also became Lord Mayor of London.”

“The wooden statue evidently shows the owner in his mantle of office, either as alderman or Lord Mayor The old warehouse, too, has a history.”

“It is one of the oldest in Honolulu, and the loft was considered very large in the days when it was built and Honolulu was in its Infancy. It was a sail loft and used for general ship chandler work.”

“When Admiral Thomas, the British naval officer, restored the Hawaiian Kingdom its independence and flag in July, 1843, having been unlawfully deprived of both by the British some time previous …”

“… a grand ball was given to celebrate the event, and the sail loft of the Robinson warehouse was the place where the ball was given.  It was grand affair, attended by the elite of the city, including royal personages.”

“The old figure-head was then in position. The doors immediately below the beam and figure-head … open out from this old time ball room, now used as a storage loft.” (PCA, Feb 8, 1903)

Thrum noted that in 1911 as a “Disappearing Landmark”, “The old Robinson warehouse with its seaward-end adornment of the figure-head of Alderman Wood, from an English ship of that name which was wrecked on the Island of Lanai in 1824 …”

“… and has, as it were, welcomed the incoming and sped the outgoing shipping of Honolulu ever since the erection of the building a few years later, has fallen in decay.”

“The appearance of our waterfront will seem unnatural to many frequenters of the port who will miss the old familiar figure and once prominent building.”  (Thrum, 1912) It is not known where the figurehead is now.

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